Wednesday, October 17, 2007

The Unichip Engine Managment Computer is available at RS Impressive Motorworks. We are the sole dealer for this product in West Malaysia.

The Unichip gives the properly trained technician full control over the timing and mixture functions of most electronically controlled vehicles. Not only can mixtures and timings be set, but it can also be set under various load and RPM conditions. This gives one the ability to optimise the vehicle for economy under light load conditions and set it up for optimum performance under full-throttle conditions.

The Unichip is more than just a "Chip". In actual fact, it is a fully functioning computer which is added to the vehicle's existing engine control unit (ECU). Apart from controlling general timing and mixtures, it can do idling control, drive extra injectors, take full control over timing functions, eliminiate road speed goverors and many more features. It can be accurately described as a "piggyback" computer.

The Unichip is wired into the existing ECU harness. If it is removed, the vehicle returns to its standard configuration. With the Unichip, every individual vehicle is optimised. It is not just a chip that was made on one particular vehicle and then gets used on other similar vehicles.

Dastek Unichip on a K20Z3 This month we find out how much power Dastek’s Unichip makes with the new FD Honda Civic at RS Impressive Motorworks

The 8th generation Civic made its debut in Malaysia with much fanfare about a year ago at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. Public response was good, and the Civic began to sell like hotcakes. Sadly, there wasn’t a manual variant for the spirited driver and Honda only offered the Civic with the economical R18 1.8 litre SOHC engine and the tree-hugging version of the K20 engine, the K20Z2.

The K20Z2 doesn’t share the same cam profile switching capabilities as its red headed sibling, the K20A or K20Z3. Instead, the i-VTEC system present on the K20Z2 allows the engine to operate on three valves in each cylinder in the lower rpms to save fuel with the fourth valve being put into play only at higher engine speeds for better top end power.

The K20Z2 may not be as wild and visceral as its Type-R siblings, but its still puts out an adequate 155bhp. The owner of this limited edition Honda Civic Concept Mugen wanted to boost power without sacrificing drivability and comfort. Besides, it’s always a good idea to start with the basics like the ECU. For this, a Dastek Unichip was chosen for the automotive muscle building exercise.

Fitting the Unichip to the K20Z2’s harness proved to be a slightly troublesome affair. The relatively new engine and its complicated wiring harness gave the tuners at RS Impressive a hard time getting the stock ECU to work with the Unichip. It didn’t take long until they finally got the Unichip to hold hands with the stock ECU and play nicely, and we were now ready to make more horses.

The Dastek Unichip is by far, one of the most advanced piggyback ECUs on the market today. Apart from the usual air/fuel ratio control and ignition timing control, it has a wide range of features for tuning flexibility such as VTEC/MIVEC/VANOS control, launch control, boost control, additional fuel injector control and even nitrous control. This means that the Unichip has even more functionality than the ever popular GReddy E-Manage. Of course, it also costs a little bit more.

The first run on the dyno showed that the Civic managed to put 125.8 wheel horsepower to the rollers which equates to a 20% drivetrain power loss. Torque was rated at 137.9 Nm.

With the baseline figure acquired, RS Impressive got to tuning, extracting every horsepower and Nm out of the K20Z2. As is the case with most piggyback ECUs, it can be tuned for fuel economy under light throttle and full on power under wide open throttle, so not only would you stand to gain power, you’d also save fuel! If that isn’t having your cake and eating it, then I doubt I’ll ever know what is.

After a solid hour of tuning, the final power figure stood at 133.6 wheel hp and 146.4 Nm of torque, a useful increase of 8hp and 9Nm of torque. Bear in mind that everything else on this car is stock; an intake, header and exhaust combo should free up even more horses with the Unichip.

The Dastek Unichip is available at RS Impressive Motorworks. Please contact them at 03-5891 1773 or visit their website at www.rsimpressive.com.

The plan is to get up bright and early on a Saturday morning. Reason? To drive a 420hp track tuned EvoVII. Well, someone has to do it.

Jackie Chan loves the car. So does Hollywood producers with seemingly deep endless pockets. Millions of drivers around the world sing continuous praises about it. Even non-Mitsubishi fans can’t help but appreciate what it can offer. I can ask you readers on what exactly is the x-factor that makes Evolution cars so appealing, but that would sound so stupid wouldn’t it?

I imagine the team that steers the development of the series is sitting pretty in their offices, proud of their achievement. Their business card might even just have their name and the title “Evolution Development Team” in big bold letters printed on it. It’s funny how a global corporation such as Mitsubishi has a single car that helps to define the company.

But personally, I’ve been rather 'institutionalized' by the car. It does get stale after the dozen-th car or so, no matter which variation it is. Not so because the fun is only to a certain degree, but because cars with radical upgrades to heavenly horsepower figures are too far apart. Worse is the fact that the test drives are usually done at normal roads; not exactly the most conducive (and suitable) environment for proper pants-soiling driving experience. But no matter, once in a while, real scorchers do come by and reminds me on why this machine gets the admiration that it receives.

This Evolution VII is the final car to shoot in my trio of cars tuned by RS Impressive. I was only told of two things, first that it is painted white and secondly of its dyno proven 420 horsepower rating. Now, the latter is what got me interested. In fact, when the car first made its appearance, the sound of the engine alone made me say “Whoa!”. It looked like a track car; it sounded like a track car and pulled away at first gear like a track car. Oh heck, this is a track car.